HSBC whistleblower Hervé Falciani on Monday claimed that “millions of crores worth of illicit funds“ were flowing out of India and that there is a “lot of information that has not been used by the Indian authorities," The Times of India reported.
Falcani, who was addressing media persons over Skype, said that while he was ready to cooperate with investigation authorities on the black money probe, he wanted "protection" in return.
A computer systems analyst and ex-HSBC employee, Falciani is facing charges in Switzerland of leaking details of bank account holders in the Geneva branch. The list reached the French authorities and later was shared with India as well, since names of Indians, who had stashed funds abroad, also figured on the list, states the report.
He said that he had written twice to the Indian government, once to PM Modi and to special investigation team (SIT) chief Justice M B Shah (Retd) the second time, and offered his help. But the response and "lack of seriousness of the Indian government" disappointed him.
When asked if he wanted money in exchange for giving information to the media, Falcani, according to a PTI report, said, "It is not about money. I don't intend to become rich."
The TOI report further states that Falcani had in a letter earlier this year hinted that he had additional information on the list of 628 Indians who had accounts in HDFC's Geneva branch.
In his letter dated August 21, 2015, Falciani wrote,"There is an urgent need to focus... on unravelling the role of financial intermediaries. The investigation must not be restricted to interrogating clients just to find out how much they have in accounts but also how they proceeded. If this is not done, status quo will prevail as far as the black money problem in India is concerned."
Falcani's interaction with the media through Skype had been organised by Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, leaders of "Swaraj Abhiyan".